Wednesday, July 6, 2011

French Law and DSK: An Excellent Analysis by Diner's Room

Jules of Diner's Room gives a quick but thorough lesson in French law concerning sexual assault and slanderous allegations. My layman's reading is that the charge of attempted rape is likely to be thrown out because, even on Banon's account, there was no attempted penetration, so the alleged acts, if they took place, should be classified as agression sexuelle, on which the statute of limitations has run. But the criminal charge could lay the basis for a later civil charge, which would still be receivable.

Second, it's not clear why DSK's lawyers filed a counter-charge of dénonciation calomnieuse rather than diffamation.

Not being an expert in French law, I may not have this exactly right, but I'm sure Jules will correct me if I've misrepresented him. In any case, I'm grateful for a very illuminating post.

2 comments:

Kirk
said...

I'm confused about this too. Does that mean that any time anyone files charges against someone for a crime the alleged perpetrator can go after them for "dénonciation calomnieuse"? Sounds like a twisted legal systed that allows such things.

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I have been a student and observer of French politics since 1968. In that time I've translated more than 130 books from the French, including Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. I chair the seminar for visiting scholars at Harvard's Center for European Studies and am a member of the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society and of The Tocqueville Review/La revue Tocqueville. You can read some of my writing on French politics and history here and a short bio here. From time to time I will include posts by other students of France and French politics (accessible via the index link "guest"). My hope is that this site will become a gathering place for all who are interested in discussing and analyzing political life in France. You can keep track of posts on Twitter by following "artgoldhammer".